The World Shifted
by Ainnenoi Aurum
Summary: When L brought Light to Wammy's House during the Kira case, he wasn't expecting Light to recognize Winchester. And he CERTAINLY wasn't expecting Light to already know his three best heirs. *AU of Sector L5*
1. Chapter 1

I wrote an AU of my own AU... Is that sad? It's based off an image I got, about L bringing Light to Wammy's, and then being totally shocked that his heirs _know_ Light. That, and I wanted an excuse to have L be even more lost than usual.

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note. I own Aryn, but she die with Lujayn in this, so I don't own anything.

* * *

Matt sighed, staring moodily into the hidden pond that was back in the woods, if you were brave enough to go back into them to look for it. He was bored. Mello and Near had class, for once not skipping. They'd decided they hadn't been driving the teachers insane enough recently, so they had to step it up. So Matt couldn't hang out with them. And there was nothing else to do but wait.

Not even a freaking Rabid to blow up! Seriously, it did not get this quiet. Not ever. Unless something really, really bad was going to happen.

And then, as if that thought had jinxed it, Matt heard the crunching of gravel on the path. Great, L had come back to Wammy's. But he was bringing Light.

"YES!" Matt yelled, jumping in the air and punching it joyfully, startling a few birds out of their trees. "FINALLY!" And Matt took off, running, in the direction of the front of Wammy's House.  


* * *

Light looked out the window, bored and confused. He didn't understand why the hell L had gotten them both on a plane, before Light even woke up. And the man didn't even have the decency to tell Light where...wait a second...that tree looked mildly familiar. Light turned around in his seat to follow it with his eyes, catching L's attention. Broken motorcycle hanging from it, scorch marks along the bottom three feet...

"Holy crap!" Light blurted in surprise. "No fucking way!"

"Is something wrong, Light-kun?" L asked mildly, slightly off-centered by Light's sudden outburst.

"Are we in _Winchester_?" Light asked incredulously, fearing the answer. If he was in town and didn't get the chance to let them know before getting to Wammy's, the trio was going to be _pissed_.

"...how did you know that, Light-kun?" L asked. Really, there were too many questions going around at the moment.

Light flapped his hand agitatedly. "That's not important. What _is_ important is the fact that, if I'm in Winchester, there's something I _have_ to do, or else there is a large chance that your suspect's gonna end up dying on you."

"Has someone threatened you, Light-kun?" L cocked his head to the side in curiosity. "Because if they have, and are still alive, then the chances that you are Kira decrease by .5%."

Light laughed slightly, leaning back in his seat. "No, much as I want that decrease, I'm not going to lie to you and tell you I've been threatened. And anyways, even if I _were_ Kira and those three _had_ threatened me, no way I'm going to kill them. They're my unofficial brothers in all but blood. Just... they'd be so damn _pissed_ if I was in town and didn't see them. I haven't had the chance to come out this way for nearly four years. They tend to be the ones meeting me. That, or we end up heading out to some random country and visiting for a while before heading back to our... not hometowns, but the places we claim as our own, you know?"

"No, actually I don't, Light-kun. Are you implying that these three are not originally from Winchester?" L responded, wondering absently if...But no. Some thoughts are so wild, insane, just plain unlikely, that L refused to even think them. But L could almost see four reflections (Four? Didn't Light say three?) in Light's so expressive eyes. Almost saw windswept blond hair, unnatural red hair that no one really believed wasn't dyed, white hair on an abnormally short figure. A child, with huge eyes, telling L to _"Go. Just go. I'm done for. Please, just promise me that you'll live life to the fullest."_

L shook his head slightly, dispelling the images. Sometimes he thought that perhaps he should have been a writer, so easy was it for him to come up with the most unlikely of thoughts and chances. But...then where had that last image come from? That child...L had felt sorrow when looking at her, and yet, L had never seen her before. What just happened?

"...L? Are you okay?" Light was genuinely worried for the other genius. Sometimes his aura acted up, an if one was really observant, then there was a chance that one would be sucked into his memories, and trapped there. And L was definitely observant.

"What, Light-kun?" L asked, cursing his lapse in attention. Light shrugged, leaning back.

"You kind of zoned out there for a moment. Nothing big really. hey, can I borrow your cell phone?"

"My...cell phone?" L asked slowly, not accustomed to being the one with questions. Then again, Light Yagami was an extraordinary person, one able to capture even the great L's attention.

Light shrugged again. "Yeah, so I can call them. Maybe set up a meeting. I promise you can come along and watch me, but _please!_ I haven't seen them in almost half a year!" Light wheedled, making good use of the wonderful feature known as puppy dog eyes.

L sighed. "I suppose you can. Provided, of course that you realize that if I were to go missing during this meeting, the chances of you being Kira reach near certainty. And you must have the phone on speakerphone so I can hear the entire conversation too."

"Whatever." Light shrugged carelessly and L realized exactly how much these three people meant to his suspect. Light had never ignored the possibility that him being Kira would be certain if a certain thing happened before, so he must have been extremely joyful at the moment, to ignore such a thing.

"Very well then. Here you go." L held his phone out carefully. Light grabbed it, flipping it open and punching a set of numbers in so fast that there was no way for L to see what they were. Rather impressive to be honest, and it spoke of many times pressing the same sequence, to be able to punch the number in that fast.

_"Hello?" _A voice answered.

"Hey there, Mail Boy!" Light replied teasingly. L was interested to note the fact that Light was speaking English perfectly, without any hint of an accent. If L didn't know better he would have said that English was Light's first language. (L was also grudgingly impressed at the fact that Light had managed a flawless switch from Japanese to English in a split-second. Even L couldn't do that.)

_"How many fricking times do I have to tell you, don't call me that?!"_

Light shrugged. "Dunno. It's fun to annoy you though. Way too easy though. I keep telling you, you need to get a hold on your emotions, or you're going to get hurt during a fight."

_"Nah, I'm actually not that bad, I just trust you too much to keep my shields up. Anyway, Light, why are you calling us from a different phone number?"_

Light shrugged, forgetting for a moment that the person on the other end couldn't see him. "I'm borrowing a phone. But never mind that, guess what?" He leaned forward, excitement coloring his voice. "I'm in Winchester!"  
_  
"....Kari said what?"_ the other voice asked after a moment.

"You heard me. I got kidnapped by L and taken to England, and I recognized something. You know the Tree? Yeah, we passed it about a mile back. So yeah, we're in Winchester."

L twitched. Light was being far too free with sensitive information.

_"You prick! Why did you call me if L's somewhere near?"_

L was getting mildly concerned. There was no disbelief in regards to the fact that L had kidnapped Light, which was, technically, true in the sense that he had not asked Light, but he had asked Soichiro! Light was still a minor according to Japanese law, therefore it was not kidnapping!

Light snorted derisively. "Cause I don't want to get beaten to a pulp? And don't even try to say that you wouldn't if you knew that I'd been nearby and not said hello, cause I know you would."

_"Okay, fine, I would. But still!"_

"Whatever," Light said, flipping a hand at some invisible person. "Anyway, you wanna meet up?"  
_  
"Sure,"_ the other person laughed, _"I'll find you."_ And then the person hung up, leaving L with far too many questions. L turned a questioning gaze on Light.

Light shook his head. "Nope! Not going to explain. Feel free to raise my Kira-score, whatever it is you're calling it, but I'm not going to explain. This secret is dearer to me than my life, and you are not going to get it."

L sighed, sitting back in his seat. L had learned that Light Yagami could be incredibly stubborn when he wanted to be, and there were a few warnings in that tone that told L that this was one subject that Light was not going to be willing to share.

Five minutes later, and Watari pulled the car into the winding driveway that led to Wammy's Orphanage. L was mildly surprised to see that Light wasn't looking around in awe. That was the normal reaction of an outsider upon first seeing the majestic manor turned orphanage.

Instead, Light seemed rather nervous. L couldn't really understand why.  


* * *

The limo _finally_ rolled to a stop. Matt, looking from around the corner of one of the walls, cackled evilly. He'd show Light, the bastard, not to drop off the face of the earth for months on end!

L got out, looking mildly uncomfortable in the sun as always. Matt internally scoffed at him. The detective thought he was such a great hacker, such a non-entity, but Matt was able to find so many tiny pieces of information about him that he had damn near a full file.

L turned around and jerked on the chain (Wait, _chain?_ Light hadn't mentioned that _lovely_ little detail. Oh, Matt was going to have _fun_ with the bondage comments.) that was hanging from his wrist leading into the car. And Light was jerked out of the limo, nearly falling flat on his face on the gravel driveway, barely catching his balance in time. Matt let the older teen get his feet under him before enacting his plan.

* * *

Light took a look around Wammy's House, which he hadn't seen for almost four years, since his fourteenth birthday when he met Matt, Mello and Near. It was still as majestic as he remembered, but really, it paled in comparison to Heaven's architecture. Then a blur of black and red stripes and red hair ran hurtled into him at speeds somewhere near terminal velocity. Light was promptly thrown about a yard backwards and onto his ass. L, somehow, managed to keep himself from following Light in toppling to the ground.

When Light stopped seeing stars, he found that he was being glared at from behind orange goggles, with a pair of black-gloved hands wrapped around his shoulders.

"You _idiot!"_ Matt hissed venomously, shaking Light violently. "You fucking disappeared for seven months! Do you have any idea how out of our minds with worry we've been?"

Light sighed. "There's no way I'm getting out of getting a beating, is there?" he asked resignedly.

Matt shook his head vigorously. "We fucking thought you were dead, Light! _AGAIN!"_ Matt's eyes softened behind his goggles and he pulled Light into a choking hug. "Don't you ever do that again, kay? You're one of our best friends, it'd kill us if you died."

Light awkwardly patted Matt on the back, all too aware of L's eyes boring a hole into the side of his head. "I'm sorry," Light said softly. "It wasn't exactly a matter of choice."

Matt let go of him. "Yeah well, I thought you were a genius. Aren't geniuses supposed to know how to avoid situations like that?" he asked teasingly. Light spluttered incoherently.

"Gah-wah-heh-how-fri-HOW THE HELL WAS I SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO AVOID SOMETHING I'VE NEVER RUN AFOUL OF BEFORE?" Light yelled.

Matt grinned. "I'm just shittin' ya. I know it wasn't your fault. You still disappeared though. Which reminds me," He stood up and glared at L. "_You_ are an utterly inconsiderate bastard who is responsible for making my best friend relive too many traumatic experiences. For that, you get a punch, delivered to you at dinnertime."

"Matt!" Light yelled. "No!"

Matt sighed. "You're right. Can't go around punching the living hell out of L on a regular basis. Guess I'll just have to settle for freeing you from that handcuff thing. And may I just say, Light, that I never figured you for the sort to get off on bondage?" Matt flashed Light a rueful grin. "Guess I owe Mello a freaking fortune in chocolate now."

"Wah-You've been betting on my kinks?" Light yelled incredulously as Matt fiddled with the handcuffs, pulling a small, modified ball-point pen that now doubled as a Swiss Army knife.

"Shut up, Light, you're fucking with my concentration." Matt admonished him. "Plus it ain't as bad as what Near said. He said you'd be into blood play."

"Ew! Where'd he get that idea?"

"Aaaaannnnnnddddd.... GOT IT!" Matt yelled in triumph as the chain fell to the ground. He turned to L. "Sorry, but I'm going to be borrowing your suspect for a while. Don't worry, you'll end up getting him back at some point. And he'll even be mostly unharmed. By which I mean no broken, bruised or fractured bones. Nor permanent brain damage, though that's more a personal preference. Ain't gonna promise more than that."

Matt grabbed Light by the hand and dragged him off. All in all, between Light being forced out of the car to being dragged around the corner by Matt, the entire exchange had taken a total of about a minute.

L stared after his third-best heir as he dragged his suspect behind him, feeling oddly out of the loop.

"Watari, have you ever felt as though the world as you knew it wasn't quite the way you knew it?" L asked quietly. "Because I feel like I am having a moment something like that."

* * *

Poor L, ne?

This is going to end up being a two-shot, I _think. _I'm working on the second chapter, wherein Light is declared a saint by the Wammy's kids.

So... anyone wanna tell me what they think of this thing?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Really? Do I have to do this? I no more own Death Note than Obama owns it, regardless of the possible name similarities between Obama and Obata.

* * *

Chapter 2 of The World Shifted, spin-off of Sector L-5, Demon Hunter, which seriously needs a new summary.

* * *

It was dinnertime at Wammy's House, and the children were all looking around nervously. Every one of them seemed rather afraid of something. Rather understandable, given the loud obscenities that had been screamed from the vicinity of the top floor, where Matt, Mello and Near habitually were. The students feared for themselves. They knew that a Mello in a bad mood, while not quite as bad now as he had been about four years ago, was still something to be feared.

Plus there was a strange man sitting at the staff table, eating sugar and glancing towards the door every so often. But really, no one cared about that in the face of a pissed off Mello.

The yells echoing throughout Wammy's had ceased about five minutes ago, and every single one of the students was afraid of what that could mean.

Then the doors to the dining hall opened violently, and Mello stalked in, sitting down violently on one of the benches. Everyone tried to scoot away slightly, unnoticeably. They failed, and Mello glared at them.

Matt and Near followed shortly after Mello, pulling an auburn-haired boy in his late teens after then. The students of Wammy's did a collective double-take. Matt, Mello and Near never associated with anyone but the three of them! Well, there was that one kid. The one who had gotten Mello to calm down and made it safe to be in the same room as Mello.

Linda gasped, recognizing the boy. "That's the guy! The one who..." She trailed off, darting her gaze up to the staff table. It was one of the secret rules of Wammy's House that the staff didn't know a thing about how Wammy's actually worked, and it was just quiet enough in the hall that someone sitting at the staff table would be able to hear what her next words would have been. And that would have told anyone employed at Wammy's too much about how little they really knew about Wammy's.

Linda had no need to complete her sentence, though. The rest of the kids figured out who the other kid must have been from her sentence. After all, Mello had come to her one day, asking her to copy a picture three times. A picture that held four figures in it. She was the only orphan at Wammy's who had ever seen the teen that had managed to calm the Trio down.

The kids were filled with awe as they turned as one to stare at Light Yagami as he was dragged into the dining hall by Matt and Near.

* * *

L looked at the girl with pigtails in her hair in confusion. He _knew_ that the Kira case file had not been leaked to Wammy's, so how had she recognized Light as his suspect? That would be the only possible way any of his heirs _should_ know Light, even if at least his three best heirs seemed to have known Light from before the Kira case.

Then again, there was a chance that Matt had brought Light to Wammy's at some point. Though surely he would have been informed of something like that.

And then L was stunned when, as one, the children all slipped out of their seats and swarmed around Light, awe and something like reverence filling their faces as they touched him, seemingly trying to make sure he was real.

"It's you." "You're my hero!" "Are you really human?" "Thank you so much." "I can't believe it. I never thought you'd deign to come _here_." "Are you a saint?" "Are you insane?"

Such comments filled L's ears as he watched his heirs, every single one of the ones under third place, surround the man who L was certain had, at some point, been the most prolific serial killer in the history of the world, all but falling to the ground and worshipping the ground he walked on.

Somehow, L didn't think that the pigtailed girl had gotten ahold of the Kira case file anymore.  


* * *

Matt sighed, tapping his foot impatiently on the floor. He had known as soon as he'd gotten the call from Light saying that he was in Winchester with L that something like this was going to happen. The little brats all worshipped the ground that Light walked on, because he was the one who had taught Mello to control the emotions that being forced to live in such a crowded place as Wammy's was causing. That had indirectly led to Wammy's being made a hell of a lot safer for the younger children, and therefore Light was regarded as the savior of Wammy's, even if no one but Matt, Mello or Near had ever actually _met_ him.

But _damn_ it got tiring, being constantly surrounded by frickin' fan-worship.

After about half a minute of pawing and awed comments, Near decided Light had suffered enough at the hands of the heirs of L.

"I think that is enough," he said quietly, injecting his voice with the subtle warning that every orphan at Wammy's knew. "If we do not calm down, one of the employees may realize something, and that is _not_ something any of you want on your record."

And, just like that, the orphans scooted away from the three standing in the middle of the dining hall and into seats. Because they knew what would happen if they were to break one of Wammy's secret rules.

Matt rolled his eyes. "D'you have to scare the shit out of them, _every freaking time_, Near?"

Near smiled slightly. "Of course."

Mello glared at the trio. "Oi! Sit! Eat. Food. Good."

Light rolled his eyes as he sat down. "I know you're not a caveman, Mel, so stop talking like one."

Mello scoffed. "I was trying to speak in a way _you_ would understand."

Light play-glared at him and chucked a roll, bouncing it off of Mello's forehead. "Yeah right. You just want to cover up the fact that-"

"OKAY!" Matt said loudly. "There's nothing to see here. Look away, nothing interesting here, nope, no sir, just boring eating of food!"

"..." Light, Mello and Near stared at him for a moment, speechless.

"Dang," Light said after a while. "I think you got your goggles on a little tight there, they seem to be cutting off the circulation to your brain."

"Nah, I'm just acting my age." Matt dismissed as conversation slowly began to start up again. L kept on watching the four of them too closely.

Mello scoffed. "Which one?"

Some random kid frowned in confusion.

Light chuckled and answered her unspoken question. "Inside joke."

Near sighed and hit Light over the head. "Please don't explain our jokes to outsiders, Light."

Light pouted. "Come on! You three have these kids terrified! I'm just trying to show them that not everyone is going to yell at them or ignore them if they ask a question!"

Matt rolled his eyes. "So?"

Light glared. "I would feel no qualms, at all, about cutting you off from-"

"Fine!" Matt yelled quickly, not wanting to be deprived of the chance to eat food Light had made, which he knew was what Light was threatening. "Say whatever you want, but for the love of god, _don't cut off the food!"_ Matt grabbed onto the front of Light's shirt and began shaking him. "If you have any mercy in you, you won't cut off the food!"

Everyone stared at Matt as his voice began to reach the higher registers as he rapidly became hysterical. Light shoved Matt away from him.

"Geez, I was just joking. Odin, no need to freak out."

Matt ceased his hysteria to look at Light seriously. "Light, trust me, threaten the food, and you might as well be threatening my life."

Mello snorted. "Light's cooking isn't _that_ good, dipshit."

"Says the one who locked himself in a closet with a bar of chocolate Light made," Near observed. "The noises you made were both disturbing and mind-scarring, Mello. I commend you."

Mello flushed slightly. He hadn't meant to, but damn. Light's chocolate was _divine_. No one, once they tried that chocolate, would blame him one bit for going a little... over board.

"Like you haven't done worse things with some poor toy!" Mello shot back, referring to the incident where Near had gone just a little too long without drinking blood and subsequently molested an unlucky lower level member of the Court. Not one of Near's finest moments.

Light sighed, turning mournful eyes on Matt. "Do you ever feel like we are surrounded by sexual deviants, Matt?"

Matt nodded. "Can't say I mind too much though. They do make good entertainment."

Light nodded in agreement. "Very true, Matt, very true."

Mello and Near realized that they were being discussed and simultaneously turned to glare at Light and Matt. Light laughed.

"Well, I do believe that we have made them upset, Lord Matt," Light said, affecting the manner of a lady of the British Court around the turn of the seventeenth century.

"I believe you may be right, Lady Light," Matt teased.

Light fell out of character to glare at Matt. "One time! And you people _never_ let it go!"

"You made a very fetching cross-dresser, Light," Matt assured him.

L decided at that point that it might be helpful for his sanity if he were to regain control of his suspect, so he stood up and walked over to right behind his suspect.

"Light-kun," L said commandingly.

Light yelped in shock, not having heard L's approach, and fell off of his seat. Matt cracked up laughing.

"Dude, Light, you got _schooled!_ What were you telling me the other day about paying attention?"

Light picked himself up off the floor to glare at Matt. "Well, most of them don't tend to weigh less than 60 kilograms! Plus, they alway, always, leave some sort of an obvious sign that they're there."

"Light-kun!" L tried again. Light and his heirs went right on ignoring him.

Matt scoffed. "Yeah right! Obvious? Only you, Light, only you. For every one else, the ones who _don't _happen to have a sixth sense, it's damn near impossible to know when they're around."

Light shook his head slowly. "No, as a matter of fact, it is obvious."

Mello snorted. "Only to you Light. The rest of us, lowly mortals that we are, have nearly no way of knowing when they're nearby."

"Light-kun!" L yelled.

Light turned around and looked at L crossly. "Well you don't have to yell. What is it?"

L sighed. Why was it Light could get the better of him in such small moments? It _just wasn't fair. _"Light-kun."

"You've said that already," Matt pointed out.

"Apparently having an intellect higher than 200 is coming to mean less and less, if fools and assholes like this one can make their way into such august ranks," Mello sighed in faux-sadness, before glaring at L. "That reminds me." Mello stood up, and after a long pause to build up suspense, punched L hard enough that the older man flew backwards a few feet. _"That's_ for being an insensitive asshole who locked my honorary brother in a cell that brought back traumatic memories for him."

Light shot Matt an icy glare. Matt grinned unrepentantly.

"Hey, I only said _I_ wouldn't be punching him. Never said anything about the fact that all three of us planned to put him through the wringer," Matt explained with a shrug.

Light slapped a hand to his forehead. "Letter of the law, much? God, sometimes I swear you three are idiots rather than geniuses."

"Some things need intelligence. For everything else, there's idiocy," Near said calmly while he watched L pick himself up from the floor.

The entire hall turned to stare at Near.

"Did he just... make a reference to something that is feasibly possible for the average everyday person to understand?" Light asked softly, wide-eyed.

Matt nodded slowly. "I know... I'm scared too."

"IT'S A SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE!" Mello yelled spastically. "EVERYONE, RUN FOR THE BUNKERS!"

Near turned to the other two (and L, who was now standing behind Light) and pointed at Mello. "He-she there has just proven my point."

Mello froze, eyes narrowing in anger as he turned to stare at Near. "_What_ did you just call me?" he asked dangerously.

"I called you a he-she. You look far too feminine to not be at the very least a hermaphrodite," Near responded calmly.

Light and Matt winced, able to predict Mello's reaction. Those two really got on each other's nerves too much. And yet they were best friends. Matt and Light were slightly confused by it too, but dealt with the fights as best they could.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU! I AM _NOT_ A GODDAMNED GIRL!" Mello ranted, continuing on in this vein for quite sometime. After a few seconds, everyone kind of tuned the spazzing blond out. Blow-ups like this one were too frequent for them to actually pay attention to anymore.

"Light-kun, I do believe you owe me an explanation. For example, would you care to tell me how you already know my heirs?" L said quietly, not wanting to draw attention to his words.

Light flipped a hand at L. "Yeah, sure, whatever. Just a moment." Light turned to the rest of the inhabitants of the room. "At ease, my loyal subjects, I shall be leaving momentarily, along with the rest of my entourage."

Mello hit Light on the head. "Shut the hell up, Light! For the last goddamned time, _we are not your entourage!"_

Light smirked at Mello as the four teens stood up and headed for the door. "Ah, but you are too much fun to tease. I know you're not my entourage, but that sort of a comment gets you riled up _far_ too easily."

"LIght-kun, aren't you trying to lower your percentage?" L asked.

Light shook his head. "Nah, not right now. I quite frankly don't give a crap at the moment. I act too damn much for me to keep acting right now. Now... where was that one really secure room?" Light mused to himself as he set off down the hallway.

Matt sighed. "You mean the one where you explained the aftermath of the Accident to us?" Light nodded. "It's _that_ way." Matt pointed down the hallway... in the direction opposite to the one Light was heading in. Light performed an about-face.

"Right, knew that, I was just testing you."

"Riiiiiiiiight..." Mello said skeptically.

L was left to wonder when, exactly, the world had been turned upside down from the one he knew so well.


End file.
